The emergence and development of the Portuguese welfare state and the debate on poverty and social policies are marked in Portugal, as elsewhere, by a set of social and economic dimensions, but also a set of ideological and conceptual aspects. This paper discusses the emergence of the main concepts and authors on that debate. We also discuss the Portuguese case, in historical, legal and theoretical terms, regarding a social policy in particular, the Minimum Income, later called Social Insertion Income. Finally, we analyze the role of this politics in strengthening (or not) the (almost) Portuguese welfare state, as well as the prospective paths that can be drawn.